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14 Reasons Why Your Employees Don’t Care

According to a Gallup study, only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. Surprised? How about this: 24% are actively disengaged – which means they spend their time undermining everyone else’s hard work.

According to a Gallup study, only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. Surprised? How about this: 24% are actively disengaged – which means they spend their time undermining everyone else’s hard work.

Here’s why your employees don’t care:

1) You Don’t Let Them Do Their JobMeetings have gotten out of control. The team is spending 40% of their time on administrative chores. Collaboration is a frustrating experience.

2) No, Really. There’s No Time Left for WorkHow many emails does your average employee get per day? How much time do they spend in their inbox? Is that the best use of their time?

3) You’re Not ListeningThe team doesn’t feel like their input is valued, so they don’t put in the extra effort to speak up.

4) You Don’t Really Care About Them (Even Though You Might Say You Do)When’s the last time you asked how happy your people are? Did you find out why or why not? Did you do anything about it?

5) Work is Not a Good Place to BeGrey cubicles. Standard issue computer equipment. Terrible enterprise software. Being at work is not enjoyable.

6) You Haven’t Set Clear Measures of SuccessThe team doesn’t know how to exceed your expectations. Performance reviews are nerve-racking and infrequent.

7) You Don’t Encourage Entrepreneurial ThinkingInstead of letting the team figure out how to achieve an objective, you’re overly prescriptive in how they should get there. Innovation is stifled.

8) You Don’t Trust ThemYou still have set working hours? Working in the office is required? If you don’t trust them, why should the buy into the company’s mission?

10) You Let Others Get Away with BullyingThere are bullies in your organization and they yell and scream and stomp their feet. Your best people despise that toxicity.

11) You Don’t Have Rigorous Hiring Standards“But I need someone for this role right now” and “they’re good enough” are excuses you’ve used to hire people that are not the right fit, at the expense of your team’s culture.

12) You Don’t Have the Guts to Fire PeopleYou let the wrong people, in the wrong roles, do the wrong things – for years, without repercussion.

13) You Don’t Have a Defined Team CultureYou haven’t set the tone. Half-assed work is accepted. Bad attitudes are ignored. And the result is mediocrity.

14) You Forgot to Tell Them WHY They Should CareWhy does your company exist? No really, what is your undying mission? If the answer is “to make money,” then you’re missing the point.

These were my least favorite things about working for a company – and I did care, very much. I did two things about it: I started a company called SpeakUp where we create our own team culture and hiring standards, and we developed a product that helps anyone create positive change at work.